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HOW THIS IS MONEY CAN HELP

Rebecca Rutt, of This is Money, replies: This sounds like an extremely frustrating situation made worse by the fact no one at Thomson is able to help.

You bought your parents a significant gift for their wedding anniversary but due to a mistake you were given a voucher which needed to be used in six months.

As the website clearly states, these vouchers should last for 24 months from activation, which is when it is first loaded with money. Therefore there’s no reason why your card only had a six-month window.

We got in touch with Thomson to try and find out what had happened.

After looking into your case a spokesperson responded with the following statement: ‘We’re sorry to hear of Mrs Frowe’s experience, we have been in direct contact and the situation has been successfully resolved.’

The voucher I received expired in six months but the website says it should last 24 months

You have told us that a new gift voucher has been sent out to you but there was no explanation as to why the other card had to be used within six months. There was also no reason given for why it was so hard to get in touch with the company or why you weren’t given an answer before we intervened.

We also went back to Thomson to ask about this and but no further comments were made.

In this instance it looks like the only reason Thomson responded and sent out a new card was because we got in touch with it. You had tried every other avenue and no one had given you any help until then.

If someone at Thomson had called you and explained the situation the entire thing could have been resolved at a much earlier date.

When it comes to gift vouchers in general, there are a few things to watch out for before buying them. First, as in your case, they usually have an expiry date by which point you need to use them.

Secondly, if a company falls into administration – as has happened with several high-profile brands in recent years – there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to get a refund for the voucher or that you’ll be able to redeem it in a shop.

When this happens, it’s the administrator’s role to look through a company’s assets and debts and there is often not enough money in the pot to pay back everyone who has an outstanding gift voucher.